Cultural Diversity Cultural Background Summary Term Paper

I would say this is more a part of the Russian-American immigrant cultural values I have been exposed to since I was a child than Russian values, however.

There is a stereotype that Russians are brusque on the outside. I would say that there is a tendency in my family and other Russian families to be direct and not to beat around the bush. Also, people in Russia and of a Russian background tend not to be demonstrative in public, or dwell on social niceties. In private, families are very affectionate, physically and verbally, to their children particularly and loved ones in general. Children are very valued in Russian culture. Although many chores as a child, in comparison to my friends not from Russia, it was also stressed that it was most important that I studied hard, and had my eye focused on the future. My studies were always my most important job. Also in terms of supposed 'brusqueness,' when in a store or dealing with a school or government agency, my family and Russians in general, 'no' is never an acceptable answer. My family has a sixth sense for when they are being taken advantage of by someone else, possibly a common 'folk' memory of what it was like living in Russia!

In terms of how my current identity has been molded by assimilation, acculturation, and/or a climate of pluralism, I would say that I am a Russian-American, rather than a Russian.I have a good sense of how I am different in my values and lifestyle, in comparison to my friends who come from families whose roots in America are of longer duration. Even my own families' striving for betterment is more typical of the immigrant experience, than what is quintessentially Russian although a strong survival instinct was necessary to survive in Russia. This had made my family value grit and determination above all else in what some might call typical of American independence and what they would call typically Russian. The stress upon family and commonality we share, our foods and traditions, show how we have our ties to the past, but we have also drunk deeply and liberally of American values of competition and success as a people, and are the better for it, I believe......